Pierre Sadek

Place: Zahlé

Born: 1938

Death: 2013

Biography:

Pierre Sadek (1938 – 24 April 2013) was a Lebanese caricaturist, considered a pioneer of political cartooning and a great defender of freedom of expression. He graduated from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and worked for several newspapers, including Al Amal, Al Anwar, An-Nahar, Ad-Diyar, and Assayad magazine where his caricatures of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser led to his dismissal. He also collaborated with a number of international media, such as Time, France Soir and Washington Post. In 1972 he received two Said Akl Awards. In 1986, he was the first caricaturist in Lebanon to do his drawings on TV as part of the main evening newscast. He organized several exhibitions and is the author of four books. In 2012 he had to deal with a violent campaign against him because he had published a caricature of Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Shiite group Hezbollah, in the daily newspaper Al Joumhouria. In December the same year, President Michel Suleiman named him Commander of the National Order of the Cedar. He had previously been named Knight of the same order by President Suleiman Frangieh and Officer by both President Elias Hrawi and former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. He died at 75 at St. George Hospital in Ashrafieh after a long struggle with cancer on 24 April 2013.